BE INSPIRED BY THE SURPRISING CONFESSIONS OF 15 AMAZING BLOGGERS

Starting a blog is as difficult as fine dining with a reptile. Yet many bloggers have yielded to the temptation and started their own blogs.

Some like Pat Flynn, Amy Porterhouse, and Brandon Gaillie have been so successful that they now teach others how to make a living from blogging.

But if you’re anything like me, you are probably lying awake at night debating:– whether you should or should not start a blog
– how you would ever find the time to blog
– whether you have the ability to cut it as a blogger

REASONS FOR STARTING A BLOG

If you’re sitting on the sidelines and caught up in the great blogging debate, here are some common reasons bloggers cite for starting a blog.
– to share knowledge on a topic that they’re an authority on
– to boost the family income
– to inspire others by sharing their personal challenges
– to have their own business
– to have a creative outlet
– to have the laptop lifestyle

Patty is a powerhouse – a published writer, blogger, speaker, and coach. Check out my review of Patty’s book Parenting your Teen through Chaos &Crisishere.

A blogger I followed online posted a weekly link challenge called, “Five Minute Friday.” Bloggers would do a 5-minute free write in response to a one-word prompt.

I didn’t have a blog, but I wanted to participate in Five Minute Friday so I started one. I had no aspirations. I didn’t plan to amass followers or concern myself with who read.

Over the years, my blog became a platform to reach women. My mission is to inspire and encourage women to love intentionally while making room for what matters most.

I bless women as they mother, (and those who have children grown and out of the home) by encouraging them to find the purpose in their life and to live for that purpose.

My aim is to help women heal their hurting hearts and cultivate a lifestyle that is grace-filled and purposeful.

Blogging has become so much more than I anticipated. I am able to share information about my books. It is also a way to offer my speaking and coaching services.

Patty’s new bookSlow Down, Mama is available on September 10th on Amazon. It helps women discern why they are overly-busy, the roots of unhealthy busyness, how to define their purpose, and then gives practical guidance towards developing life-giving habits.

Actually, I had an email “newsletter” of sorts that was already being read around the globe.

It began with the story of the miraculous healing of my husband, witnessed and acknowledged by doctors in the ICU.

That email list grew as what I shared turned into snippets of my life experiences. I intend to include them in a book someday. I’ve had some rather amazing experiences, and I believe God wants me to share what He has done in my life.

Then I started my faith blog 40YearWanderer.wordpress.com and loved it … and the worldwide connections and friendships it brought into my life.

My health took a very bad turn several years ago and I sadly had to put all that on pause … for 3 long years to be exact.

But, I’m much better now and am excited to not only have picked all that up again over this past spring, but I’ve also revived my two decades long marketing and website design career.

My dream is to support myself through my writing, but money isn’t the reason that I launched my blog.

There’s a part of me that’s secretly hoping that, by magic, This Is All Going On will suddenly explode, and I will be able to quit my job and become a full-time blogger.

The real reason that I became a blogger was to force myself to improve my writing. What I truly want to do is write novels (don’t worry, I’m working on a few), but I was struggling to find the time and motivation to work on my writing.

Apparently, like everything else, becoming a proficient writer doesn’t just happen; you must work at it – and so This Is All Going On was born.

Blogging might not be my first writing love (can I admit that? ?), but I don’t regret a moment of my chaotic blogging journey.

My blog has given me an audience (something I needed to begin calling myself a writer); an audience that I’m accountable to for SCHEDULED, quality writing.

Through my blog, I’ve met some extremely supportive people, and just perhaps improved my writing along the way (even if I do say so myself ?) – a complete win in my books.

But, writing things down has always been a way for me to feel like I’ve gotten things off my chest, processed them, and, in turn, has given me a sense of self-therapy without the feeling vulnerability.

As I’ve become an adult and a mother I’ve realized sharing your feelings and life experience is not a weakness, but a strength.

As someone who has finally found my confidence and comfort in my own skin, it is essentially my human duty to share with others. To give them hope and courage and, above all else, a voice.

I started it 11 years ago so I could earn a full-time wage to help support my family and I just loved it.

I’ve been able to support my 3 kids as well as help countless others get a good start in life.

However, after 11 years, I needed something for me. Something to give me that sense of achievement at the end of the day and keep my mind active.

So I decided to start my crazy blogging journey last November.

I passionately believe kids need to be reconnected to nature and the world around us.

The number of children who come to daycare and are glued to tablets or phones is unbelievable!

They’ve never picked apples, built a den in the woods or even played pooh sticks, they have an aversion to dirt and bugs and it’s sosad.

So whilst in my care, we get out … growing our own food, exploring the woods and experiencing the outdoors in all its glory.

I started to make my blog to help educate and excite families to take a chance and find time to get out and have adventures in nature.

ELENA | Elenathinkslife.com

I have an amazing three-year-old daughter that has redirected my life and many ways.

I graduated with my Master’s degree in Psychology in 2016 and have fallen in love with the power that information brings.

My life and career plans, however, have changed over the last few years and it all started with my struggles with mental health.
Shortly after giving birth to my daughter, I went through depression and an immense guilt that kept me from speaking up.

I started my blog, Elenathinkslife.com because I found recovery in knowing that what I was not the only woman, or person that has gone through mental health problems on their own or in solitude.

My daughter was diagnosed with a sensory neural hearing loss and has started her journey in special education.

My blog chronicles our journey and our struggles with the stigmas, judgments, and labels related to children with special needs, as well as the effects that these have on mental health, parenting, and overall wellness.

Fast-forward a year into blogging and my content has evolved to include topics that have become even more relevant to my life and to parents in general.

My ultimate goal is to connect others to information and to find support in a community that is often afraid to speak up.

And that’s okay. It’s okay to fail, and it’s okay to not know what to do. It’s not okay, to not try.

Blogging, for me, is more than creating a means to an end.

It provides endless opportunities – to choose the hours you work, who you wish to work with, being able to stay at home working around your family’s schedules and the chance to work from anywhere in the world.

Blogging provides you with Freedom. Unlike many other careers, you do not require an endless list of qualifications or specific skills in x, y or z.

You won’t have to send your kids to nursery when they are unwell because your boss wouldn’t give you the day off.

Most importantly for me, I will never have to miss another precious milestone my children make.

You only have 18 summers with your children before they are fully grown adults, time that goes ever so quickly and that you will never get back.

Blogging enables me to live in the present with my children, soaking up every moment and creating memories together.

It will provide an income to be able to take them around the world, enriching their lives and showing them that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

I’ve enjoyed working as a freelance writer for magazines and newspapers for more than five years.

But I got frustrated that I couldn’t find a good home for stories I believed needed to be told.

So I decided to start HappyintheHollow.com, a lifestyle blog for intentional, sustainable, affordable, and simply happy living.

Here I get to delve into any and all topics that interest me and that I think can make a real difference for my readers.

Besides offering practical solutions, I hope to feature inspiring people and organizations and hope my blog will help to amplify the good they do in big and small ways.

In the long run, I’d like for my blog to become both a kind of portfolio for my writing and a semi-passive source of income that will allow my family to achieve a location-independent lifestyle sooner rather than later.

It is so interesting to read how everyone gets into the blogging field and where it takes them. I think we all have a story to tell and just want to share with those that are willing to listen and want to be part of what we are creating. The tribes and groups that people make connect groups of people that would not normally find each other without the use of the internet.

It is very interesting to read about reasons why people start blogging. I will make an effort to actually check out some of the blogs. To see how they do it and what they write about. It seems like the allover motive is to write about something that is close to their heart. Thanks very much for sharing!

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12 September 2018 7:05 am

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Kat

I can relate to a few of these. For me, I had the desire to create something. And it’s been quite fulfilling!